Indian contribution to obstetrics & gynecology.

In the year 1951, there was a conference of renowned Gynecologists and Obstetricians from all over the world at Paris. The representative from India thundered in the Conference that no woman should loose her precious baby because of cervical incompetence. He disclosed a totally different and innovative approach for cervical incompetence. He described cervical cerclage operation for habitual second trimester abortion. The same operation he described at Naples in 1956. Gynecologists and Obstetricians all over the world accepted his technique and the operation was aptly christened as ‘‘Shirodkar Cerclage’’. This innovative, different, dynamic personality was no other than Dr. Vithal Nagesh Shiordkar. Dr. V. N. Shirodkar was born on 27th April 1899 in Shiroda, Goa. After his graduation in medicine from Grant Medical College, Mumbai, India, he went to United Kingdom. In 1931, he obtained his fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS). Here he got opportunities to interact and associate with Prof. J. Chassar Moir, Victor Lack, J.D. Murdock and others. He returned to India in 1935 and immediately joined Sir J.J. Group of Hospitals as an Hon. Obstetrician & Gynecologist. He tutored under Dr Samson Wright and conducted experimental work in preeclampsia showing angiospasm in 1938. Dr. Shiordkar had keen sense of questioning everything that was routine. Shortfall, failure of any technique, operation motivated him to improve & modify them. For this he went into the basics. He carefully studied the anatomy and physiology of genital system. He was particularly interested in the changing nature of cervix during normal pregnancy from fibrous to a dynamic muscular organ. Thus an answer to the habitual second trimester operation was born. Cervical cerclage operation was performed on cervix for the second trimester habitual abortion and with his engineering skill he developed instruments to perform the same. There have been many modifications, most notably Purandare C. N. (&), Ex. Professor Grant Medical College, Mumbai, India e-mail: [email protected]